During surgery of the head and neck existing methods of securing nasotracheal tubing can be a hindrance to the surgeon, either obstructing access to or blocking a clear view of the surgical area. One of the methods used to direct the nasotracheal tubing away from the surgical area is to secure the tubing to the patient's head using operating room tape. This method results in a number of problems. It is difficult to readjust placement of the tape, difficult to remove the tape, and the patient's hair is pulled out when the tape is removed.
Another method is to place a towel between the nasotracheal tubing and the forehead. This method does not provide adequate support to stabilize the tubing if it is inadvertently contacted during surgery, and may result in an accidental extubation.
Another method involves custom cutting a piece of foam, however this is time consuming and non-standardized. The performance of this method is variable depending on the nature of the foam and on how well the foam is fashioned into a cushion for the tubing in each instance. The raw edges created by the cuts also impose a hazard of microscopic flecks of foam being dispersed and potentially contaminating the surgical area.
Accordingly, prior to the development of the present invention, positioning the nasotracheal tubing securely away from the surgical area has been laborious and lacking in predictable stability. Most importantly, other methods do not adequately prevent accidental extubation. The present invention solves the problems of the current methods in practice by implementing a substantially U-shaped foam block which provides a conduit onto which a nasotracheal tubing can be attached to keep the tubing stabilized and the surgical area of the face, neck, jaws, or oral area unobstructed. The foam block, or medical tubing stabilization device, may be retained to a flexible band that wraps around the head.